Figure-of-eight band blade bread slicing machine



H. J. CRINER Sept. 29, 1959 FIGURE-OF-EIGHT BAND BLADE BREAD SLICING MACHINE Filed NOV. 15, 1956 FILE. 3

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United States Patent FIGURE-OF-EIGHT BAND BLADE BREAD SLICING MACHINE Harry Julius Criner, Burlington, Iowa, assignor of onehalf to A. G. Bush, Davenport, Iowa Q Application November 15, 1956, Serial No. 622,446

7 Claims. (Cl. 146-88) My invention relates to a new form of band-blade bread slicing machines having a plurality of band-blades in which each slicing cut is performed in a single plane by two sections of the same blade acting simultaneously.

The objects of my invention are:

To provide band-blade slicing apparatus in which a plurality of band-blades are led over spaced parallel pulleys and the blades are turned and crossed midway between the pulleys in planes at right angles to the axes of the pulleys and in such close juxtaposition that the sharp edges of two crossed segments of each blade will travel so as to produce a slicing cut in a single plane whereby each cut will be made in part by two separate segments of a single blade acting in unison; I

To provide a band-blade with its cutting edge formed and sharpened by grinding only one side of the blade over its whole length and arranging the blade so that the unground side of one cutting segment thereof will form close contact with the same unground side of the other cutting segment thereof and run in parallel therewith, whereby the cutting edges of the two segments will travel so as to produce a slicing cut in a single plane;

To provide means for maintaining a constant tension upon the blades while in operation by automatically holding or moving one of the blade pulleys into a position which will maintain constantly a uniform tension upon the blades;

To provide improved means for guiding the blades Figure 2 is a vertical sectional detail of the blades and guides on the line 22 of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a side elevation from the left of Figure 1; Figure 4 is an enlarged sectional detail of the central portion of one of the guide assemblies and blades on the line 4-4 of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is an enlarged detail in horizontal section of the crossing point of the blade segments but showing a pair of fingers which would be spaced from the crossing point as in Figure 2;

Figure 6 is an enlarged fractional horizontal section on the line 66 of Figure 4 but shows the adjusting rings and shafts 13 and 15 in full lines;

Figure 7 is an enlarged sectional detail taken on the line 7-7 of Figure 1 of the means for maintaining tension upon the band blade.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

-- My slicer is preferably composed of castings of steel,

iron,-aluminum or other suitable metal, having a base 2 and a. vertical side post 1 rigidly mounted thereon carryice ing suitable hearings in which the shafts 3 and 4 of the pulleys 5 and 6 are mounted. The shaft 3 of the pulley 5 extends outwardly beyond the bearing and has a pulley 3A rigidly united thereto which may be driven by a drive belt or other suitable means.

The pulley 3A is rigidly mounted upon the shaft 3 so as to turn therewith. The shaft 4 is rigidly mounted in its bearing and the pulley 6 is freely revolvable thereon.

The side post 1 also carries bearing blocks 1A and 1B in which adjusting shafts 13 are journaled having hand wheels 11-11 secured upon the free ends thereof whereby they may be rotated for short distances to cause the guide fingers to move in 'either direction whereby the spacing of the blades and the thicknesses of the slices of bread to be cut thereby may be increased or diminished within limits of approximately one-eighth of an inch in either direction.

The guide fingers are formed integral with ring units 10 and each two of them are secured together to form a single guide for the blades. Thus in Figure 6 fingers 19 and 20 and their finger rings are secured together by the screw 22. The fingers 24 and 25 are similarly secured together. If desired, the fingers and finger rings may be united in pairs by welding or metal cement or other form of fastening means.

The blades 7 are band-blades and are mounted upon the drive pulleys5 and 6 in figure of eight form. The guide units are mounted at the required spaced distance between the drive pulleys and act to turn the intermediate sections of the blades at right angles to the position of the blades as they pass around the pulleys.

The two halves of each guide are so spaced that the upward and downward moving sections of the blades will be in close contact as shown in Figure 5, as they pass through the guides.

In order to center the cutting edges of two blade sections so as to produce a slicing cut in a single plane, the

sharp chisel cutting edge of each blade is formed by grinding oif the blade on only one side thereof throughout its entire length and leaving the other side in its original flat form.

In mounting the blades on the machine they are so placed that the fiat sides will come in contact as they adjacent areas of a single blade shall travel in the closest possible relation. If not'so held, the tendency will be to produce a very thin additional slice of bread between the two adjacent cutting segments. In assembling applicants invention, the two adjacent cutting areas of each single blade are held in the closest possible contact and the fine cutting edges 7A and 7B travel so close together that they produce a cut which passes in a single plane through a loaf of bread. This relation is produced not only by the position and size of the guide fingers, but also by the fact that a loaf of bread while having a large number of separate slices cut therefrom, necessarily produces a certain amount of lateral pressure upon the slicing blades 70 which tends to hold the separate cutting areas of each blade in close contact as the entire loaf is being sliced simultaneously.

In order to permit a variation of slice thickness when desired, I thread the inner circumference of each finger ring 10 with threads 10A whereby they may be moved laterally by corresponding threads 26 27 upon the outer.

circumference of adjusting rings which are slidable upon an adjusting shaft 13.

The adjusting rings on each side of the middle pair are keyed to the adjusting shaft by keys 13A so that when that shaft is manually turned, the adjusting rings will be turned and their threads being in mesh with the threads of the finger rings, will move the finger rings laterally within certain limits and thus space the guides and blades therein farther apart or closer as desired.

The guide fingers are secured in the desired planes by retaining shafts 15 rigidly mounted upon the bearing blocks of the pillar.

The several assemblies of the guide fingers, gauge rings, and rearward extensions thereof, are activated by the shaft 15 as separate units. The numeral refers to portions of each given ring unit. The numeral 8A refers to the space between the two guide fingers of any given pair and numerals 19 and 2t] refer to guide fingers that are secured together by the set screw 22. The numerals 24 and 25 refer to another pair of guide fingers.

The numeral 23 leads to a set screw used to secure adjusting ring with threads 26 to its adjacent member.

In Figures 3 and 7 I have shown means for maintaining a desired tension upon the band-blades. The post 1 has a bore 17A extending upwardly from its foot 2 with an enlarged opening 18 to carry a circular bearing 16 for a shaft 3 in the lower part 1d of the flanged portion 10 of the post 1. A tension spring 17 is mounted in the bore 17A and bears downwardly upon the bearing 16, thus exerting a certain pressure tending to automatically hold the shaft 3 downwardly to exert a certain amount of tension upon the band-blade.

In order to secure uniform lateral movement of the guides, the guide fingers and guide rings are made singly and threaded separately for convenience and are then assembled in pairs with one member of each pair threaded in the direction opposite to the other member thereof.

Likewise the adjusting rings are composed of two separate members threaded in opposite directions.

When the machine is assembled, the finger rings and the adjusting rings are united in alternation with one of each pair of adjusting rings in mesh with half of the adjoining finger ring on one side and with the other one in mesh with the adjoining finger ring on the other side.

When thus assembled, each entire assembly is slidably mounted upon its adjusting shaft and keys 13A are inserted between the adjusting rings and adjusting shaft at each side of the middle unit. The adjusting shafts 13 are then mounted in their bearings and the hand wheels 11--11 mounted upon one end thereof whereby they may be manually turned. A suitable stop may be mounted on the outer end of each adjusting shaft to prevent displacement.

Set screw 15a is only mounted upon one of the guide rings in each upper and lower series but may be mounted upon an end guide ring as in Figure 4 or upon the middle guide ring as shown in Figure 6. The guide ring so secured by a set screw is stationary while all of the other guide rings are movable away from or toward the fixed guide ring.

I claim:

1. In a bread slicing machine, the combination with a plurality of band-blades ground and beveled on one side to form a chisel-like cutting edge, of a pair of spaced horizontal pulleys mounted upon a single upright supporting post to carry said blades turned in figure of eight form and spaced apart, means to revolve said pulleys whereby the upwardly moving course of each given blade contacts and crosses the downwardly moving course of the same blade at a point midway between the two pulleys and with the flat or unground sides of both courses of each blade in contact at the crossing point, guiding fingers supported by the post contacting the blades above and below the crossing points thereof whereby the blades will be held in close contact at the crossing point with the cutting edges of both sections of a given blade traveling between the upper and lower fingers in a single vertical plane at a right angle to the pulleys which carry the blades and so close together as to effect a single slicing cut for each blade.

2. In a bread slicing machine, the combination with a plurality of band-blades ground and beveled on one side to form a chisel-like cutting edge, of a pair of spaced horizontal pulleys mounted upon upright supporting means to carry said blades turned in figure of eight form and spaced apart, means to revolve said pulleys whereby the upwardly moving course of each given blade contacts and crosses the downwardly moving course of the same blade at a point midway between the two pulleys and with the fiat or unground sides of both courses of each blade in close contact at the crossing point, upper and lower sets of adjustable guiding fingers supported by the post contacting the blades above and below the crossing points thereof whereby the blades will be held in close contact at and at both sides of the crossing point with the cutting edges of both sections of each separate blade travelling between the upper and lower fingers in a single vertical plane at a right angle to the pulleys which carry the blades and so close together as to effect a single slicing cut for each blade.

3. In a bread slicing machine, the combination with a plurality of band-blades ground and beveled on one side to form a chisel-like cutting edge, of a pair of spaced horizontal pulleys mounted upon a single upright supporting post to carry said blades turned in figure of eight form and spaced apart, means to revolve said pulleys whereby the upwardly moving course of each given blade contacts and crosses the downwardly moving course of the same blade at a point midway between the two pulleys and with the flat or unground sides of both courses of each blade in contact at the crossing point, upper and lower sets of adjustable guides supported by the post contacting the blades above and below the crossing points thereof whereby the blades will be held in close contact at the crossing point and all the way between the upper and lower guides with the cutting edges of both vertically moving portions of each separate blade travelling between the upper and lower fingers in a single vertical plane at a right angle to the pulleys which carry the blades and so close together as to effect a single slicing cut for each blade.

4. The combination as described in claim 3, said upper set of guides being spaced above the lower set a space equal to the height of the loaves to be sliced.

5. In a bread slicing machine, the combination with a plurality of band-blades ground and beveled on one side to form a chisel-like cutting edge, of a pair of spaced horizontal pulleys mounted upon a single upright supporting post to carry said blades turned in figure of eight form and spaced apart, means to revolve said pulleys whereby the upwardly moving course of each given blade contacts and crosses the downwardly moving course of the same blade at a point midway between the two pulleys and with the flat or unground sides of both courses of each blade in contact at the crossing point, guiding fingers supported by the post contacting the blades above and below the crossing points thereof whereby the blades will be held in close contact at the crossing point with the cutting edge of the two crossing sections of each blade in close contact in a single vertical plane at a right angle to the axes of the pulleys, and resilient means mounted in the post to spread the pulleys and exert tension upon the blades.

6. The combination as described in claim 5, and means mounted in the post to automatically exert downward pressure upon the lower pulley whereby the blades will be held under tension.

laws-ea s i 7. In a bread slicing machine, a plurality of bandblades ground and beveled on one side to form a chisellike cutting edge, a pair of spaced horizontal pulleys mounted upon a single upright supporting post to carry said blades turned in figure of eight form and spaced apart, means to revolve said pulleys whereby the upwardly moving course of each given blade contacts and crosses the downwardly moving course of the same blade at a point midway between the two pulleys and with the flat or ungrouu'd sides of both courses of each blade in contact at the crossing point, guiding fingers supported by the post contacting the blades above and below the crossing points thereof whereby the blades will be held in close contact at the crossing point with the cutting edges of both sections of a given blade traveling in a single ver- 15 2,684,530

tical plane at a right angle to the pulleys which carry the blades, and means to support and feed approaching loaves of bread at the level of the lower set of guide fingers.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 286,706 Kay Oct. 16, 1883 469,177 Sperry Feb. 16, 1892 1,392,990 Vaughan Oct. 11, 1921 2,098,816" Walma NOV. 9, 1937 2,195,641 Criner Apr. 2, 1940 2,336,050 Walma Dec. 7, 1943 Weinberg July 27, 1954 

